Chapter 13: Guardian Force

It seemed this last monster was the only thing that stood in-between them and a resolution to this whole situation. The part of the shadow that drained in to the ground was attacking before any one on the ground had time to notice what was happening. Spikes shot up from the charred earth with small quake, aiming particularly at the Ragnaork. It was more then strong enough to reach the ship.

Attacking it back would be a problem, since it was underneath the ground and wasn't possessing it, it could move easily in-between the pours in the minerals. So there was little way to find out it was and actually get a hit off before it moved.

Damn things.

"This is just creepy." Seifer shifted around nervously in his seat, he wasn't to sure about what was happening now.

Everything around him was black now that Shadow had possessed the Ragnaork with out even leaving Cho's body, all of it except the windows... "Is the fearless human becoming afraid?" Cho asked, not in a mocking tone but an inquiring one as if he didn't understand how Seifer was acting at the moment.

"First, don't call me human, call me by my name, Seifer, you know because us humans like to name things. And I'm not afraid." Seifer told him forcefully.

"Your body heat had risen several degrees and your hart rate as has increased." Cho told him.

"It's not from fear." Seifer rested his hands behind his head and lifted his feet back on to the dashboard where they'd had been before. That reaction Seifer was having wasn't from fear, it was more from anticipation.

Cho shook his head with the small nearly incoherent utterance that he didn't understand humans and turned his vision back toward the ground outside the windshield. He opening fire on the land indiscriminately with the Glatting guns.

A line of spikes shot out of the ground in a counter towards the ship, seemingly with out a reason Cho didn't evade and allowed them to connect. That's when the shadow took a hold of them on to them, preventing them from retracting back to the ground With that it became a battle of strength between the GF trying to hold on to the merged shadow's appendages and the other shadow trying to itself back. "Heh." Shadow held on to the spikes as long as he could, pulling the blue trigger then letting a missile release from the ship and drop to the ground with precision.

He couldn't miss.

The Spikes were incinerated upon the explosion and the dark substance buried beneath the ground spewed forth from the smoking crater a splash from water, quickly retreating back before it could be hit again.

As soon as it was completely immersed, the ground began to shake violently with the formation of large splits and fractures, then with another splash like motion from merged Shadow, the sending large pieces of it where thrown into air.

The flying debris of boulders and rocks smashed in to the Ragnaork, knocking it around and almost out of the sky, it would have had not for Shadow's possession. That also mint he was taking his fair share of damage from the last attack.

Cho growled in anger, watching his chances of winning declining before his eyes. With out hesitation he thrust the throttle forward and accelerated, sending the Ragnaork into a furious nose dive.

Seifer didn't like looking strait a the ground, especially when plummeting towards it ."What the hell are you doing?" Seifer shouted, he got no response.

Once again as wall of rocks and boulders were lunched from the ground in another splashing motion from the merged shadow, they were no real challenge. They became nothing more then dust and pebbles with a barrage of rounds from the guns.

The ship came to a sudden stop, forcefully haling just a few feet from the ground's surface much to Seifer's contentment. The dark then that surrounded the bright red metal begin to pulled off like water sheeting off a non-absorbent surface. It formed the head of a wolf, presumably Shadow's because Cho seemed to become dormant at the moment, it seeped into the ground just as easily as a ghost.

Both shadows conflicted heavily, causing an earthquake growing in strength rapidly. After a few seconds the earth was literally jumping and large fissures shout outward from the place they met. One in particular along the coast near Esther.

It seemed as if a land mass would break off if this continued, but the earthquake stopped just as suddenly as it had started, the Shadow GF was the only one that immerged, repossessing the a small part of the ship he had let go so that he could enter the cockpit and re-junction himself with Cho.

! - ! - !

He seemed to wake up then, his face returning to that normal, almost casual expression he always carried, the glowing red eyes reverting back to the chocolate ones. They glimmered with a child like astonishment. "You really did it…" Cho's voice was saturated with pure amazement and pride, making Shadow feel a certain sense of contentment now that Cho had some admiration for him.

It was really an weird experience for him.

It felt strange, he'd never felt this type of contentment. In fact he never felt much of anything except some physical pain in his hundreds of years of living, ever. But he wasn't apposed to the new feeling and decoded that he could get use to it, he actually enjoyed being admired.

Now that this whole thing was over, he could work on his other problem, the only reason he'd tolerated this one in the first place. It was hard to focus on much of anything else, it had been a miracle that he even made it through the battle having been so distracted.

! - ! - !

The Ragnaork landed on the now uneven grounds, Cho emerged from the side door followed by Seifer.

Seifer smirked, spotting a familiar face. "Well look who it is, what are you doing here Chicken Wuss?" he asked curiously, this was not a person he expected to see. He also noticed he didn't get the same reaction as he usually got.

Zell, and Carbuncle, were too busy tending to Bahamut. "What are you doing here asshole?" Zell shot back, he didn't even look up from the Dragon laying on the ground in front of him.

Cho looked over Zell's shoulder curiously. "What happened to Squall? Did he get out?"

He sounded distracted, as if he wasn't even paying attention. "Yeah, he went to Esther to try and get some help with the Garden and stuff…" Zell retrieved a GF hi-potion from his inventory since it was the best he could produce at the moment, "Bahamut..." Zell slowly poured it over the wounds and cuts along the GF's body. He took a second one, his last, and slowly poured it in to Bahamut's mouth.

Bahamut swallowed with out complaint, ignoring the stinging pain that came with it's application of it to his wounds and the sour taste of the liquid.

Most of his injuries were too deep to be reached by medicine or to severe to be effected, like that dislocated tail that was broken in three places, so it looked like he'd be out of any fighting for a while and Zell told him so a sternly as he could manage.

The healing rate of someone his species was fast, so he'd be fine in a week, two at the most, which is what Bahamut told him back.

"Look's like your going to have to stay here." Zell said with a hint of disappointment.

"Where are you going?" Bahamut asked, he didn't want to sound particularly needy, he was just wondering.

"Check out the Garden, make sure there's no surprises left." Zell standing to his feet and looking around the area. It seemed that most of the monsters in the area along with most of the landscape was completely destroyed. Of course the landscape wasn't really that good to start with.

"Zell...Nida's in the ship, he's in really bad shape." Cho asked.

! - ! - !

Zell wasn't a doctor, but it didn't take one to detriment Nida needed to get to a hospital, right now. The fact that he'd just coughed up blood on to his shirt was a dead give away. "Wow, he just can't seem to catch a break." Zell sighed. He wondered how Nida came to be in this bad of a condition, Nida was the one that knew how to avoid these kinds of situations, and was always smart enough to avoid injury during them.

"What do you mean?" Cho asked. What was that suppose to mean?

"First the heart attack and now this, there's no telling what else I missed during time compression. What happened to him?"

What? Cho hadn't heard anything about that. "Well he was trying to rescue Squall in the Ragnaork, but those monsters got to him." Cho explained.

"Yup it was pretty bad, the ship got cut in half and both parts blew up." Seifer added, imitating what happened with exaggerated hand gestures.

Zell shot him a small look, sure Cho had explained how Seifer had helped him out, that didn't mean he trusted him. "Hmm…I'm sure Ester's hospitals are going to be to busy after everything that happened around here. You should take to FH, we're going to end up taking the Garden there anyway."

Being the only one here, Zell had the unfortunate task of getting the Garden there.

"Alright…" Cho gave a small nod to Zell, then looked back Seifer. "Are you coming with me?"

Seifer just shrugged an indifferent agreement and took his usual seat, he'd come to far just to leave Cho now, and he didn't like to leave things unfinished.

Zell just looked at the back of his head in disbelief, a million questions were going in his mind that he didn't feel like asking right now. Why was Seifer --...ah, forget it. His mind was more focused on Bahamut whom he reluctantly left outside, Seifer wasn't a concern anymore because of the distinct knowledge that he could win in a fight against him. That kept him from getting too mad at any comment Seifer could make.

! - ! - !

Zell left the airship, watching from the ground as it soared threw the skies toward Fishermen's Horizon. With a small sigh for Nida's sake he knelt down again where Bahamut lay undisturbed.

"I really don't wanna leave you out here by yourself." Zell said pleadingly, giving the GF a soft kiss on the cheek.

"I'll be fine." Bahamut reassured him, unable to do anything but stare up at the sky because it hurt to bend any part of his body that moved any inch of his back.

He didn't think so. Zell curiously poked him on the side, making the dragon cringe in pain. "What of I monster attacks you?" He asked worriedly.

Bahamut shifted his body slightly and swung his idle tail, ignoring the immense, searing pain that came when he slammed it back down on the ground. Despite how much pain he was in and how much he had to struggle to do that once simple move, he left behind a deep imprint that clearly showed off his power.

Zell was impressed at it the dragon's resolve more then his strength. "That had to hurt…." he sighed, looking at the tail. "Ok, that may help you from this side, but what if something attacks you from behind?" He rubbed Bahamut's head softly with his finger as in implication.

Bahamut opened his mouth with a sharp in hail, charging the reminisce of a Mega Flare as he did. Also proving his point.

Point taken. "Hmm….I still don't wanna leave you here…" He was too worried about him to just leave him alone, besides, he was feeling to guilty to do it even if he wanted too. So his eyes inanely drifted over to the GF standing at his side with a similar worried expression on his face "Carbuncle?"

Carbuncle didn't even look up, he already knew what Zell was thinking, maybe it was because they had been junctioned for so long. "I got it. But just in case there are still some of those monsters in there, be careful."

Zell gave him a small nod and headed towards the Garden.

Carbuncle just watched until the boy disappeared into Balamb Garden. "You really did a number on that thing…" he said, turning his eyes toward where the Lunatic Pandora once stood. It looked like he had just saved Esther a lot of money for clean up.

He grimaced at the thought, at the inability to control his own attack. "I still need more practice." He lifting an arm and laid it softly on his chest, he'd never felt so pathetic in his life.

"I'll say, you should have seen yourself. I'm surprised you didn't break every bone in your body the way you landed." Carbuncle couldn't resist laughing, it was pretty funny.

Correction, now he'd never felt so pathetic. "Hn." Bahamut only rolled his eyes and watched the sky.

Yeah, like Carbuncle was going to let this go that easily. "I never knew you were that strong…" Carbuncle jumped gracefully on to Bahamut's chest, just soft enough not to agitate his back, and looked him in the eyes.

But after a few seconds he looked away, the light expression shifting into something more solemn as if he'd just seen something or thought of something depressing.

It was so sudden, completely unlike him..."Bahamut….?" Carbuncle seemed to be reluctant to ask whatever he was thinking, but forced himself to do anyway.

"What?" Bahamut pried his eyes away the sky now mostly devoid of any clouds after Ifrit's attack and looked down at him. He began studying the look on his face, it was so...un-Carbuncle like.

"I wanna asked you something…" He really was stalling but he seemed determined to ask whatever was on his mind...eventually.

After being together with Carbuncle so long it became fairly simple to determine what the other was talking about even if they didn't say it, or if they had and it made no sense to others. "Is it about Zell?"

"Yeah…" Bahamut was right, they really could read each other. "Are you two happy with each other?" Carbuncle asked, his gaze shifting around for some before looking at Bahamut again.

"Yes." Bahamut nodded.

"Don't give me that look. I'm not trying to break you two up or something like that. I mean, why would I? I don't have half a shot with him."

"Carbuncle…"

"I just want him to be happy, besides, it's just it question. It doesn't mean anything." Carbuncle said, looking toward Balamb Garden where Zell had just went.

"Yes it dose, or else you wouldn't have asked." Bahamut lifting himself on to his elbow while trying to keep his back as strait as possible, he couldn't help but wince in pain when he began breathing.

"I'm really not trying to break you two up." Carbuncle said sincerely.

"I've gathered that much, something's bothering you." Bahamut said. "Just tell me what is."

Carbuncle laid down on Bahamut's stomach just above his waist, "It's not like I'm not happy for you two…it's more like--" He just couldn't seem to find the right words to describe it. "I don't know. Somethings wrong and I can't figure out what, it's starting to get to me…" Carbuncle growled in frustration, looking up to the dragon for some type of answer.

Bahamut was smart, he could at lest help.

"Hmm…. " Bahamut had nothing.

"It's starting to scare me." Carbuncle buried his head in to his arms with a deep sigh.

"How so?"

"Because I don't know what it is, it's like somethings eating me up inside. I'm getting this empty feeling and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger." Carbuncle confessed.

"If there's anything I can do."

"I'll let you know… I just need to think about this before it gets worse."

! - ! - !

Shadow had unjunctioned himself soon after the ship departed. He was now laying casually on the ground behind the pilot seat.

"Why are you messing with him?" Cho sighed in aggravation.

"What? I'm just reminding him I owed him an ass kicking." Seifer said innocently.

The GF in question rolled his eyes. "Foolish human, you really think you can kill me?" Shadow growled.

"Nah, I like you to much for that, I don't wanna kill you... I just want you to suffer a little."

Shadow gave in a loud bark in response that was most likely a threat. "Where did you come from?" Cho asked.

"I was awakened in this place." He said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Cho glanced back over the pilot seat.

"The Sorceress, I think that's what you called her. The female human altered time, made it one body, and I ended up this place unintentionally."

"Must be talking about time compression." Cho added.

Seifer peered over his shoulder at the wolf. " Comeback? What do you mean come back?"

"I've been to this dimension few times, when time became compacted the dimension I was in was effected, I moved to another one. But I ended up moving forward through this one's time." Shadow said.

"So you came from the past and a different dimension? And you said you've been to this one before, what was it like?" Cho asked.

He smirked at the thought. "My name was all it took to make the world fall to it's knees... It was filled with different, more powerful species, how did one as weak as the human become dominate?" Shadow asked, his voice showing he was genuinely thinking about the question as if it was too far fetched.

"I don't know. Maybe it was that we were the only one's smart enough to build weapons." Cho laughed, he couldn't believe that he'd come across a GF that had actually come here from another dimension. He wondered what it was like...

"Using other things as your strength to cover up your weakness, deceitful." Shadow growled with distaste.

"Really? And what makes you so much better then us?" Seifer shot back.

"You can't comprehend the power I have."

"I haven't seen any of it, if your so big and bad, how come nobody's ever heard or seen you before?" Seifer asked.

"My kind hasn't been back here in eras. I wouldn't expect you humans to remember... "

"And another thing." Seifer called out. Cho just shook his head knowing this line of conversation couldn't end well. "How come your friends were so easy to beat?"

"You compare them to me?"

It suddenly became very clear that Shadow wasn't a GF, he just appeared to be to Cho. "If you don't like us, then why don't you leave already?" Seifer asked.

Shadow lifted his head off of the ground, his ears perking as he thought...his eyes narrowed in a strained expression as if he was trying to do something... but couldn't. "I'm sealed in." His words came as a surprise as even him. He began to pant, another strained expression coming on to his face. "This world is... small, and... you humans confine themselves to even smaller places…to be trapped here, in one place... in one world, in one dimension…What is this feeling?" Shadow's voice began to trial off in confusion, lost among the mist of heavy breathes.

Time Compression wasn't in effect anymore, at lest it wasn't directly effecting their time. It had been the only thing that allowed him to get to this dimension in the first place, now that it wasn't happening anymore it trapped him here. As it stood right now he seemed to be the only one of the shadows left alive, but then again, he wasn't anything like the smaller ones, he just looked like it.

How did those other ones get here anyway?

"I'm...trapped here..." Like it was said before, he never felt much of anything before emotion wise so all of this was new confusing.

"I never picture you as being claustrophobic." Cho laughed again, he couldn't help but find the reaction funny.

Seifer found it amusing for a completely different reason. "So how dose it feel to have all of that power taken away from you?" Seifer asked in his usual taunting manner.

"…"

"I don't know what it was like where or whenever you came from, but we don't worship the ground you walk on. So you can keep ranting about the good old days or move on."

The shadow growled at him in response. "Shut up human."

"You shut up."

"Damned fool."

"You gotta lot of mouth, as soon as we get to FH, I'm taking you out on the railroad tracks and I'm kicking your ass." Seifer said.

"Why am I not surprised you managed to pick a fight with him." Cho said. He knew Seifer was...well Seifer, but come on, he knew just as well as he did what Shadow could do.

"Whatever brat." Seifer snorted discardingly

Cho picked up a piece of paper resting on top of the dashboard balled it up and threw it at Seifer's head. "You aren't really going to go through with this are you?" Cho leaned over his seat and looked back almost pleadingly at Shadow. He like Seifer, he didn't want to see him die.

"If he thinks he can possibly defeat me, I'd be happy to put him in his place." He said in response.

Cho sighed, it looked like this was really going to happen."… Oh yeah, what was your name?"

"…."

! - ! - !